I once took out an Associate who used the cruise control for all speed adjustments by clicking on the up and down buttons. He explained this as what the car dealer had told him to do rather than using the throttle!

In America I drove a car which would resume the previous speed using cruise control. All the cc-equiped cars I have driven since will not allow cc to be engaged below some arbitrary figure (15 / 18 / 20mph). Did his car allow cc from 0mph?

jcochrane wrote:I once took out an Associate who used the cruise control for all speed adjustments by clicking on the up and down buttons. He explained this as what the car dealer had told him to do rather than using the throttle!

I'll admit I often do this depending on conditions and the road layout.

Even better on my DCT you can still change down/up while maintaining the same speed (an exercise I often get riders to do manually ... go fully up down the box while staying at the same speed)

What is the difference between pressing a pedal and pressing a micro switch with a finger/thumb?

ancient wrote:In America I drove a car which would resume the previous speed using cruise control. All the cc-equiped cars I have driven since will not allow cc to be engaged below some arbitrary figure (15 / 18 / 20mph). Did his car allow cc from 0mph?

This was an auto. On the manual cars I’ve owned as well as a minimum speed you also have to be in 4th gear or higher.

jcochrane wrote:I once took out an Associate who used the cruise control for all speed adjustments by clicking on the up and down buttons. He explained this as what the car dealer had told him to do rather than using the throttle!

What is the difference between pressing a pedal and pressing a micro switch with a finger/thumb?

For deceleration, lifting off the throttle works better than sequential downshifting and acceleration is quicker using the throttle.In the case of the Associate I noticed a slight jerking when changing speed and slow car reaction. I looked for the reason why and then spotted what he was doing.

Last edited by jcochrane on Thu Mar 01, 2018 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I expect each car is different. Mine seems pretty smooth. You can also hit cancel for full 'in gear' deceleration and resume to pick up speed again. You can only use the cruise control in 'vanilla' mode, sport doesn't allow its use, so it doesn't do any manic acceleration when pressing the resume button.

Again it's about knowing how the tech works on your vehicle and using it to your advantage.

I understand what you are saying but the Associate would adjust the cars speed in 1mph steps. So for acceleration would click up 1 mph and then click again when the car was going 1 mph quicker then click again 1 mph and so on until the desired speed was attained. Reversing the process to slow down.

I have to click 10 times to increment 10mph (but I just do them quickly). In my old car you could hold the button and the cruise control would wind up/down.

Just for variation - I had one you could click for 1 mph or hold for 5 (or was it 10) mph. Then had to release and hold for another 5/10.Pretty soon you'll just be able to say "computer - forward at 69 mph - make it so"

GTR1400MAN wrote:I see.I had one you could click for 1 mph or hold for 5 (or was it 10) mph. Then had to release and hold for another 5/10.Pretty soon you'll just be able to say "computer - forward at 69 mph - make it so"

Mercs, BMWs, Audis and I am sure many others change to the next round 5mph with a second pressure up or down on the CC stalk. I have frequently used a double 5 mph click when the speed limit changes by 10 mph.